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Hi there and welcome. According to the Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy this weblog is maintained by an earthling with a camera who's interested in art, architecture and culture in general, and who likes to explore new things and savour new experiences.

Paris, Île-de-France, France

The oldest traces of human occupation in Paris are from encampment of hunter-gatherers dating from between 9800 and 7500 BC. Between 250 and 225 BC, the Parisii, a sub-tribe of the Celtic Senones, settled on the Île de la Cité and on the banks of the Seine, built bridges and a fort, minted coins, and began to trade with other river settlements in Europe. In 52 BC, Roman army led by Titus Labienus defeated the Parisii, and established a Gallo-Roman garrison town called Lutetia. During the Middle Ages, Paris was the largest city in Europe, an important religious and commercial centre, and the birthplace of the Gothic style of architecture. In the 18th century, it was the centre of the intellectual ferment called the Enlightenment, and the main stage of the French Revolution from 1789. In the 19th century, Napoleon I embellished the city with monuments to military glory. It became the European capital of fashion, and the scene of two more revolutions in 1830 and 1848. Under Napoleon III and his Prefect of the Seine, Georges-Eugène Haussmann, between 1852 and 1870 the centre of Paris was rebuilt with wide new avenues, squares and new parks, and the city was expanded to its present limits in 1860.

La Madeleine

La Madeleine
Lampost on the Place Vendome
Ornamental lights on the Place de la Concorde

Institut De France near the Pont des Arts
Main entrance of the Petit Palais
Church of Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois near the Louvre

Statue on the Place de la Concorde
Saint Michel Fountain on the Place Saint Michel
Statue on the Pont d’Alexandre

View of the Seine and the Paris skyline from the Grand Palais area

Statue of General Charles de Gaulle near the Grand Palais
Marshal of General Joseph Joffre on the Place Joffre
Statue of Jules Hardouin-Mansart at Les Invalides and the Eifel Tower